Judith Roussel has served as Illinois District Director of the SBA since December, 1999. In this capacity, she is responsible for the promotion and delivery of U.S. government programs providing Capital Access, Entrepreneurial Development, International Trade Development and Procurement Assistance to more than 1 million small businesses in the state of Illinois. Programs are delivered through SBA staffs in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, as well as by major resource partners, including SCORE: Counselors to America’s Small Business, and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Small Business Development Center Network.

For nearly a decade, Roussel served as Associate Administrator in business development and procurement policy-making positions at SBA’s Headquarters in Washington, DC. She was responsible for development of programs and strategies to assure small businesses a fair share of the nearly $300 Billion annual federal contracting budget. Chief among her accomplishments was the negotiation and implementation of a public/private partnership agreement with General Motors, Ford and Daimler Chrysler under which the three auto makers increased purchases from minority-owned businesses by more than $3 Billion over a three year period.

During her tenure in Washington, Roussel served as the SBA Senior Procurement Executive and was the 1999-2000 Co-Chairman of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) Board of Advisors. She served as the U.S. Government’s Representative to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Small Business Procurement Subcommittee and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) SME Procurement Summit in Taipei, Taiwan. She served as an Expert Presenter before the United Nations World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland and co-authored a guidebook for developing nations on using public procurement systems to develop a strong small business sector.

In addition, she has served in acting capacities as Associate Administrator for Field Operations and as Regional Administrator for Region 5.

In 2003, Roussel was awarded the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive; and in 2006, she was presented the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive, the highest level of recognition accorded a member of the U.S. Government’s Career Senior Executive Service.

Roussel came to the SBA in 1991 with an extensive background as an entrepreneur and management and financial consultant providing accounting, export development, and financial advisory services to small and medium firms.

For four years, she served as Manager of Revenue Collections for the City of New Orleans. Her responsibilities included licensing and regulatory oversight affecting more than 40,000 businesses and collection of tax receipts in excess of $350 million annually. Roussel received national recognition for reforms she helped institute, which increased collection of the city’s tax revenues by more than $22 million over a two year period.

Roussel holds a MBA from the University of Maryland, and is a native of New Orleans, LA.